Nice and Kind: These Are Not the Same

Truth isn't always nice, but it's always kind

Colloquially, we Americans often use the words “nice” and “kind” interchangeably and I’ve never thought much about it — that is, until several years ago when I learned the difference between the two. Let’s explore their definitions:

Webster’s New International Dictionary defines nice as, “Displaying, or characterized by delicate, minute, or tactful treatment.” And, “pleasing, agreeable, delightful, amiably pleasant.”

The same dictionary defines kind as, “Of a benevolent, good nature or disposition, considerate, humane, clement, gentle.”

Granted, the variance is quite subtle, but it makes all the difference. An act of kindness springs from goodness and is benevolent. Being nice is an act of self-indulgence with the goal of ‘not making waves,’ and ‘making for an agreeable, pleasing situation’.

Just be nice.

A flurry of articles and commentary arose after The Atlantic had the audacity to publish an article by Emily Oster titled, Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty. It seems that she would like everyone to simply ‘move past’ all the ugliness and insults she, along with others like her, hurled at people outside the COVID narrative. Why? Because the truth has a way of leaking out, sometimes even via mainstream media outlets. Turns out, militant social distancing and face masks — whether homemade or store-bought — did nothing to mitigate transmission of COVID.

This is what I think of every time I see or hear that twit’s name.

Oster wants those who were marginalized and ‘othered’ by narrative enforcers to play nice. While the sycophants in media and healthcare still cling to their crumbling COVID religion, they’re simultaneously squeaking, “We didn’t know.”

Just be nice.

Don’t call the zealots to task for their destructive and deadly positions.

Just be nice.

If you’re not nice, you’re mean and you don’t want to be mean do you?

The horrific pandemic policies — still going on, by the way — are not ‘water under the bridge’. Is Oster stumping for amnesty and forgiveness because she’s truly sorry for the inexcusably destructive way she and others treated those who rejected the experimental injection? I think not.

Amnesty - might be nice, but it’s definitely not kind

Perpetrators of heinous crimes seek forgiveness and understanding because they fear experiencing the punitive justice they rightly deserve. There can be no mercy without justice.

Truth - the intersection of vox populi and vox Dei

All that those who kissed the ring of big pharma need — from those at the highest levels down to the lowliest narrative tool — is a little kindness. It’s easy to play nice in the face of difficult decisions and situations, but kindness takes moral character and a strength of will that many simply do not possess these days.

The most kind and loving action is to ensure that each and every one of these hypocrites pays for their crimes in proportion to their guilt. If they are simply excused for the horrors they have caused — often publicly and gleefully celebrating the deaths of those who refused the shots — that is not mercy, nor is it kindness. This type of amnesty or forgiveness belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of forgiveness in a civil society.

Without accountability and justice, the crimes that have taken place are bound to happen again and are unlikely to be forgiven by the victims. We simply cannot give these people a pass. Of course, some deserve harsher punishments than others, but all must be held accountable according to the harms they caused.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in His own image.” ~Genesis 9:6

Certainly, the rope is the only appropriate punishment for many of those involved, but it’s my fear that we have grown too weak, as a culture, to shed the blood of the guilty. It’s only the innocent whose blood we’re willing to spill — through abortion and euthanasia. Shameful.

Let’s put nice aside, at least for now, and resolve to deliver mercy and kindness that’s rooted in justice.

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